Scar Tissue
by VivaLaLife
Summary: Frank and Gerard both don't fit in, but  in entirely different ways. One considered as the outcast in general, the other surrounded but simply alone. They barely know each other, and prefer to keep it that way.. Until Frank finds something that isn't his.
1. Chapter 1

_Laughter.  
>That's all he could hear.<br>He couldn't make out what else was being said (or rather screamed), but he didn't care. He already knew what they had to say.  
>"Faggot!"<br>"Gaylord!"  
>"Shouldn't you be calling for your boyfriend, Way?"<br>He felt himself grow weaker. He had long ago given up at fighting back, because he knew that they would stop after a while. Too much damage would be suspicious, and they didn't want to get themselves suspended. So, he did what he always did: Staying as still and small as possible.  
>But they didn't stop this time. Not when one of them hit him particularly hard and dislocated his shoulder. Not when they noticed he was starting to lose consciousness. No, they had other plans.<br>"Hey, Dave! Hold him down, will ya?"  
>"Uh, sure Stu.. Dude, what are you doing?"<br>"Nothing.. I just want to make sure that the fag remembers why no one likes him.."_

Gerard jolted awake. He rubbed his tearstained face and sighed. After getting his breathing back to normal and cursing his subconscious, he got up from his bed and slowly made his way to his bathroom.  
>Without looking in the mirror, since that certainly wouldn't make him feel better, he cleaned his face and drank some water.<br>After turning off the light and walking back to his bed, he picked up his sketchbook and started doodling. 'It's not like I'm going to get much sleep anyway..'

By the time the first rays of light made their way through his tiny window, Gerard had drawn a whole army of tiny zombies and vampires that were devouring the complete population of New Jersey. A few zombies were busy ripping a bunch of jocks apart, while a small group of vampires were 'decorating' the necks of some cheerleaders. Satisfied, he put down the sketchbook and got ready for school. He didn't bother showering, 'I showered yesterday, I think..', so after putting on a pair of black jeans and a sweater he went upstairs, only to be greeted by a concerned looking mother.  
>"Honey..You look like you just came out of a coffin and not the basement. Did you have the nightmares again?"<br>"No mom", he lied. "I'm fine, honestly. Just stayed up too late reading comics, that's all."  
>He didn't want to bother his mom with his stupid nightmares, she had gone through enough thanks to him. He could handle this himself.<br>"Okay honey, if you're sure.. I just-" She was about to say something else when Mikey walked in.  
>"Oh, do I smell waffles?"<br>"Good morning to you too, Mikey.." His mother sighed and got up to get him some waffles, seemingly forgetting about their conversation. Gerard was glad she did, he never enjoyed talking about his 'feelings'.  
>After Mikey finished his waffles and Gerard ate some cereal, they both left the house and made their way over to Gerard's car. It may be an old and crappy car, but it was hís old and crappy car and he was eternally grateful for that.<br>They got in, but before Gerard could turn the keys, Mikey's hand stopped him.  
>"Mikey? Something wrong?" Mikey looked him in the eyes, and he could see the concern that was evidently there.<br>"I heard you and mom talk. Don't lie to her, Gee. You know she doesn't like that. "  
>"What do you-" Mikey interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.<br>"I heard you last night, Gee. I know you hate talking about it, but please. If you don't want to talk to her, talk to me. Okay?" Gerard nodded. Sometimes it felt like Mikey was his older brother, and not the other way around. As much as he hated to admit it, he felt safer knowing that his little brother had his back.  
>"Thanks, Mikey. I will." Gerard started the car and Mikey sat back in the passenger seat, fiddling with the radio. The rest of the ride was filled with a comfortable silence, only broken occasionally if Mikey found a radio station he liked and hummed along.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Frank awoke to the shrill sound of his alarm clock. After hitting it with much more force than necessary, he got out of bed and made his way over to the bathroom he shared with his mother.  
>He quickly showered, put on some clothes, re-applied his eyeliner (but not without stabbing himself in the eye at least two times) and made his way downstairs, where his mom had left him a cheese sandwich with a note next to it. Rolling his eyes, Frank picked it up and read the words he read almost every weekday: '<em>Sorry hun, had to leave early. Won't be back before 10. There's some money left in my wallet, order some pizza. Love, mom.'<br>_Sighing, Frank sat down and ate his sandwich. He felt bad for being this frustrated. It wasn't his mom's fault for having to work this much, after his parents divorced it was necessary if they didn't wanted to move out. It was great that they could stay where they were, but he missed coming home and being greeted by his mother. Sometimes, it felt like she was just here to fill the refrigerator and keep the house clean.

Rapid knocks on the front door startled him out of his inner 'monologue'. Stuffing the last remains of his sandwich in his mouth, he quickly got up and opened the door.  
>"Frank, dude! I've been waiting outside for more than 10 minutes, I'm freezing my ass off!"<br>Frank laughed at the sight of his best friend, Adam, pretending to be angry.  
>"How could you possibly be 'freezing your ass off'? It's March!", Frank laughed.<br>"March can be very cold, Frank!"  
>"Yeah, yeah, whatever.. Just come in, I'm almost ready."<br>Frank stepped aside to let his friend in, who dropped himself down on the couch. Frank joined him a few seconds later and grabbed his Converse sneakers from under the coffee table.  
>When he was almost done putting on the last sneaker Adam's cell phone started buzzing, signaling he had just received a text message.<br>"God.." He groaned and snapped his cell phone shut.  
>"Mark again?" Adam nodded.<br>Mark was one of their friends, although 'leader' would be a more appropriate word. He wasn't exactly a bully, but he did enjoy insulting people and getting into fights a little too much. He also loved bossing his friends around. Frank often considered punching him in the face and walking away, but it just wasn't that easy. He would end up on Mark's infamous 'blacklist'. It was weak, he knew that, but he really liked his organs the way they were right now.  
>"According to Pete, he's at the principal's office for punching some freshman kid in the face. Says he did it 'cause 'he felt like it'. Looks like he's spending his afternoons in detention.."<br>Secretly, Frank was very glad for that. Mark knew his mom wasn't around most of the times when he got home, which was why he would 'invite himself in' at least a few times a week and take advantage of the pizza-money Frank's mom left him. Frank had refused to let him in once, but that had resulted in a black eye and a broken rib. Mark didn't like refusal, and Frank learned it the hard way.  
>"He's a dumb asshole. Why would he punch a freshman for no good reason?"<br>Adam shrugged. "No idea.. I don't even know why he's at school this early. If you ask me, he just enjoys getting in trouble or something. Idiot.."  
>Frank stood up, stretched his legs and picked up his bag. "Come on man, we're gonna be late for school if we don't leave now.. And I don't feel like joining Mr. Asshole in detention this week."<br>Chuckling, Adam followed him out the door.

On their short walk to school, Adam and Frank usually talked about music. Since Mark thought rock and punk was for 'fags', they couldn't talk about it at school. It really annoyed Frank that he couldn't be himself, but over time he had just accepted that people wouldn't appreciate it if he did. He knew Adam felt the same way, but they never really talked about it.  
>Both having one earplug in their ear blasting Misfits and sharing a smoke, they discussed their plans to go see a local band next weekend.<br>"Oh man, I'm so looking forward to that show! The band is pretty good, and the moshpit is going to be so awesome." Adam exclaimed happily, blowing some smoke in Frank's direction.  
>"Yeah, can't agree more. Foul Garbage is awesome." This wasn't the first show they were attending together, since Adam's cousin worked at the venue he always managed to sneak them in. Frank was eternally grateful for that.<p>

Frank lived pretty close to their school, so after just 10 minutes they were at the gate. Just seconds after passing it, the bell rang. Throwing away the remains of their cigarette, Mark grabbed Frank's arm and started to run.  
>"Oh fuck! If we're late again, we're really joining Mark this afternoon!"<br>"Goddammit!"  
>"Come on Frank, carry your little midget legs as fast as you can!"<br>"Asshole.."


	3. Chapter 3

Upon arriving at school, Mikey gasped and pointed ahead. "Dude, I think Mark's fighting again. And the other kid looks a terrible lot like Ryan.." Locking the car, they quickly made their way to the school entrance.  
>"Oh shit.." They saw how Mark, the school bully, was pulled off of Ryan by Pete and Brendon. Walking even faster, they reached them just as Mark was being escorted into the school by a very angry looking principal.<br>"What happened here!" Mikey threw his bag down and kneeled by Ryan, whose tears were mixing with the blood from his lip and nose.  
>"I've got no clue.. We walked through the gate and he just started punching him for no reason." Pete kneeled down next to Mikey, helping Ryan sit up.<br>"I-I did nothing.. H-He just f-f-fucking attacked me!" Ryan's clothes were already covered in blood, just like Pete's hands.  
>"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." Mikey stood up and grabbed Ryan's hands, carefully pulling him up - not caring if he got covered in blood.<br>"See you later, Gee." Mikey waved halfheartedly at him, paying more attention to the crying freshman next to him.  
>Gerard waved back and sat down on a bench, opening his bag and grabbing a cigarette.<br>Lighting it, he thought about what had just happened. After just a month, Mikey had found himself a solid group of friends. He was really glad his little brother had managed to fit in, because Gerard wouldn't have forgiven himself if he hadn't. Mikey didn't want to leave their old high school, but when they packed up their things and moved to New Jersey, he hadn't even complained once. Mikey deserved a memorable 'high school experience', he really did.  
>Gerard watched as the smoke slowly evaporated, mixing in with the atmosphere, and felt himself relax a bit.<br>Smoking may be considered a bad habit, but to him it was just an effective way to forget about the world around him for a little while.

A few minutes later, after stubbing out his cigarette, he decided to work on the coloring of his zombie/vampire-drawing.  
>Just as he had taken out his pencils, the bell rang. 'Just my luck..'<br>He stuffed his sketchbook in his bag and stood up, walking towards the school with the pencils in his hand. When he was about to step inside someone ran into him, causing him to fall. Some of his pencils rolled away and the two guys who bumped into him stepped on a few. Gerard winced when he heard them break.  
>'Assholes', Gerard thought angrily as he stood up and tried to save his pencils. The lightblue one was completely destroyed and the green and yellow ones were broken in two. This pissed him off even more.<br>"Whoops.. Come on midget, gonna be late!"  
>"Oh, shut up Evans!"<br>Gerard recognized those voices. They belonged to Adam Evans and Frank Iero, two of Mark's 'followers' as he liked to call them. This made him even angrier. 'Those fuckers think they can just do everything they want and get away with it, just because their leader is 'important'..'  
>The sad thing was, it seemed like they could. Just because their friend was one of the biggest assholes alive, they didn't have to worry about being bullied or ridiculed. No one had the guts to do that.<br>Just when Gerard had stuffed the pencils in his bag, the second bell rang.  
>'Fuck.. Ms. Rippler is going to have my ass for being late again.'<p>

Out of breath but satisfied, Adam and Frank sat down at their assigned seats.  
>"Fuck, I think I lost my lungs on our way here.." Frank slid down his chair, trying to regain his breath.<br>"Don't be such a girl, Iero. I'm sure your little smoker lungs are still behind your rib cage."  
>"Mr. Iero, Mr. Evans, if you can find the time to pay attention to-"<br>Just then, a black-haired guy came stumbling through the door, red-faced and hands filled with dirty pencils. Frank recognized him as Gerard Way. Or, as Mark liked to call him, 'Emo-faggot'.  
>"Well, well, mister Way.. Decided to come join us today after all?" Ms. Rippler waited for an answer from Gerard, but didn't get more than an "Uh..".<br>"I'll let you get away with it this time, mister Way. But if you're late again this month, you'll be spending your free afternoons in detention."  
>After a "Sure.." and a sigh, Gerard made his way to his seat slowly, but not before giving Frank a look that would have burned holes into his skull if it was physically possible.<br>Confused, Frank turned to his friend.  
>"Adam.. Why did Gerard Way just try to kill me with a death glare?"<br>Adam snorted, "I guess emo-boy didn't like it when his emo-ass said hi to the floor."  
>"Don't be such an asshole, Adam. And what do you mean, 'said hi to the floor?'" Frank asked confused.<br>"Well.. We may have bumped in to him when we were running here." Adam couldn't stop the laugh from escaping his lips. Frank smacked him on his head.  
>"Hey, midget! What was that for?"<br>"Don't call him that. He may be weird, but he's just human. Don't go all 'Mark' on him."  
>"I wonder if he's really human.. Looks more like a vamp-"<br>"Care to elaborate, mister Evans?" Mrs. Rippler eyed Adam angrily.  
>"Uh.." Adam looked at her sheepishly.<br>"That's what I thought. Now pay attention, or you'll be spending this lovely afternoon with me."  
>After that threat, Frank and Adam both managed to (pretend to) pay attention to what was being said.<p> 


End file.
